Ill Boy Gets Promise

PEOPLE

January 25, 1987

A 15-year-old Rochester, N.Y., boy who underwent surgery Saturday for nasal cancer says he is going to get well because of promises made by Bill Cosby.

Clarence ``Huggie`` Pettway met Cosby at a rehearsal for The Cosby Show in Brooklyn last month and was ecstatic last Thursday when the comedian wore a sweatshirt on the show that Clarence had given him. The TV star also promised the terminally ill boy he could appear in an episode.

``It gave me another reason to fight as hard as I can in my battle against cancer,`` Clarence said Friday. ``... I`ll hurry up and get better.``

PARCEL POST

A British bridegroom-to-be sported more than a bachelor party hangover when he awoke at 3.a.m. Saturday -- wrapped as a package on a London-to- Manchester train.

Police found the man at Stafford station ``well wrapped up in a plastic bag, wearing brown paper and string, and sporting a red star.``

``I think by the time he got to Stafford, he realized what had happened and staggered off the train ... Whoever wrapped him up had the forethought to buy him a return ticket, so we put him on the next train back to London,`` said a policeman.

LESS TALK, MORE ACTION

Comedian Red Skelton, 73, says he`d like to see a litte more entertainment on TV and less news: ``They interrupt programs every 15 minutes to give you the news. Little by little, they are creeping into where it is going to be all news ... And they don`t give you news any more, they give you opinions. They will have the president standing in the back making his speech and this idiot sitting in front will be telling you what he said.``

FREEDOM TRAIN TO ROLL

Country singer Johnny Cash promised Saturday he will ride his Freedom Train from Memphis to Baltimore to promote a rebirth of patriotism.

Along the way, Cash and others will stage concerts with the money going to organizations and to assist POW and MIA families.

``It`s good to be able to wave the flag again,`` Cash said in Memphis. ``I come from a long family of flag wavers.

NOTES AND QUOTES

-- At 8 p.m. Monday, the 14th American Music Awards will pay tribute to Elvis Presley for his ``unforgettable legacy`` with a first-ever posthumous Award of Merit.

-- Politcal satirist Mark Russell on the Kennedy clan: ``Whenever a child is born into the family, at their first birthday they`re given a little cake with ice cream and a congressional district.``